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Your FIRST Three Steps to Writing Your Book

You’ve got that idea for a book. You’re excited, it feels great, and you can’t wait to get started.

And then you realize, you don’t really know how to write a book… Where do you start?

101816-writingFriend, I hear you! When I was writing my first book – before I was even writing it – I was so stuck it wasn’t even funny! Even with all my writing training (a degree in Creative Writing, attending workshops and conferences all over the world, years of writing articles) I didn’t know where to how to start.

Obviously, I did finally get started – and even finished. But I did everything backwards because I started in the exact wrong spot! I’ve made nearly every mistake in the book (ha! puns!) so I wanted to bring you three “how to write a book” tips to save you the lost time and extra stress I suffered.

1. Think about your big vision

For most of the authors I work with, the biggest vision is to change the world with their message. Not the WHOLE world – but an important part of it. And guess what? This is exactly where you should start!

What are your dreams for the book? Who do you want to touch? What type of fame or success do you want to see?

Really spend some time here, dreaming. Create this vision for your life after your book is published and held in your hands. This vision will keep you motivated when you feel like giving up.

What is the big vision for YOUR book? It's the key to writing it! Click To Tweet

BTW: There’s no wrong answer here!

  • Want to be on Oprah? DREAM IT!
  • Want to have 100,000 people read your book? DREAM IT!
  • Want to share a stage with your idol? DREAM IT!

2. Perfect your idea

101816-ideaWhen the rubber hits the road for your book you have to make sure that you’ve got a concrete idea for your book. This isn’t an outline (yet) but an idea that excites you. Something that you want to hang out with, think about, research, write about, and enjoy it.

And here’s a hint:

One Book – One Topic

All too often authors have so much to say they try to cram it all into one book. It’s much better to have a book with a very targeted topic than one that bounces all over the place.

If you need help cementing your idea, check out my Book Idea Workbook.

3. Create a plan of attack

Books have a LOT of moving pieces to go from idea to written. And you’re going to need a plan to get through it all. You’ll have questions about the process that you want to have answered. You’ll have goals that need to be set. You’ll need to think about compiling and organizing your ideas, your research, your outline.

This still isn’t your outline, FYI.

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Personally, I use a system at this point – one that I use for EVERY.SINGLE.BOOK. I write for myself, that I guide a client through, or that I write for a client. This is my 5-part system that I walk every single book through – and it’s the secret to my success and to the books that I’ve helped my authors write.

See the system.

101816-airplaneSo think about these three tips this way:

The 50,000 foot view, the 30,000 foot view, the 10,000 foot view. Notice that NONE of this is in the nuts and bolts of the writing (or publishing). I know it’s hard to start look at it your book as such a big picture – especially when all you want to do is dive into the writing.

But when you take some thinking energy (some dreaming time) to get that big vision, when you sit down to craft the outline, when you finally put fingers to keys and words onto paper, you know that you’re on the right track. There won’t be wasted time and effort writing a book that… isn’t the book you really wanted to write.

Kim Galloway
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